by Zhuang Bifan
After the lights faded, the Dream Garden changed completely, and even an ordinary Archmage would be able to detect it easily. The world in the ring had become extremely stable, and even Legendary-level magic would not be able to make the world collapse.
When Lin Li reinforced the Dream Garden, Xiao Hua had already ransacked through all of the items in the tent. Sensing the strange magical wave all of a sudden, it immediately flew towards Lin Li and stared at the Dream Garden.
Lin Li waved the ring in his hand smilingly, and said to Xiao Hua, "From now on, this will be your home. Go in and see if you like it."
Xiao Hua glanced at Lin Li with its guard up and retreated a little.
"Go in and take a look, you'll definitely like it," said Lin Li, who continued to tempt it by pointing at the ring.
Xiao Hua c.o.c.ked its head to the side and stared at the ring before l.i.c.k.i.n.g its mouth with its tongue. With joy written all over its face, it joyously leaped towards the ring.
Upon sight of Xiao Hua's expression, Lin Li was immediately overwhelmed with an ominous feeling. When Xiao Hua went up to him, he immediately retracted his hand, causing Xiao Hua to bite on air. Tears then welled up in its eyes.
Lin Li shook his head resignedly, and whipped out a magical crystal from the Ring of Endless Storm.
Xiao Hua's eyes lit up again at the instant that it saw the magical crystal. It then happily scurried towards the magical crystal.
You greedy little glutton. I refuse to believe that I can't deal with you. Lin Li smirked and threw the magical crystal into the Dream Garden when Xiao Hua was about to leap at him. "The magical crystal is in there. Go inside—"
Magical crystals were all Xiao Hua cared about, and it did not bother about the other matters at all. Before Lin Li could even finish speaking, Xiao Hua had already rushed into the Dream Garden, cheering happily.
Lin Li was speechless. Although Xiao Hua had been successfully lured into the Dream Garden, Lin Li was not the one who put it in. Xiao Hua was the one who wriggled in by itself instead. How could that happen? Although the Dream Garden was used for settling Xiao Hua down, Lin Li was the rightful owner of the ring. How could Xiao Hua enter and leave without Lin Li's permission?
Xiao Hua popped its head out of the gemstone on the ring, and called out to Lin Li happily before sticking its head back in.
Lin Li stroked his chin, and thought to himself that the matter didn't seem that incredible. When Xiao Hua awakened, he provided it with all his mana to the extent of almost fainting. When mages turned magical elements into their own mana, they did not change the nature of the magical elements, and simply gave them their own Spiritual Brand. Simply put, magical elements with a Spiritual Brand could be considered mana.
After awakening, Xiao Hua treated Lin Li like its family member because the mana that it absorbed had Lin Li's Spiritual Brand. In the process of soul awakening, Lin Li's mana became the nourishment for Xiao Hua's growth, and a spiritual imprint was left in the soul.
A magician relied on Spiritual Brand to open his storage rings and other storage spaces. Hence, it was not surprising that Xiao Hua could open the Dream Garden, as it had Lin Li's spiritual imprint.
Lin Li cast his mental strength into the Dream Garden worn on his finger. Xiao Hua was hugging the magical crystal and playing along merrily like it in a fairy tale. It seemed to be extremely pleased with its new home.
After settling everything that he had to, he realized that they sky had gradually turned brighter, and the noise outside the tent had also become much more chaotic. The adventurer team was going to continue on their journey.
After suffering two consecutive major attacks from the magical beasts, the two forces had become more cautious, and were proceeding at an even slower speed. The guards and reconnaissance personnel spread out, while tension build up in the main team. One by one, the strong, formidable men completely swallowed their pride. Even the Legendary figures kept a sullen expression and carefully analyzed all the information given to them as if they would only have a peace of mind after checking everything.
Lin Li was the only one in the team who could still remain relaxed as if he did not care about the magical beasts at all.
Cheyenne sent away his intelligence staff, and looked at Lin Li who was standing not too far away. After hesitating a little, he walked towards Lin Li, and said, "Master Felic, according to the previous two experiences, I'm afraid it won't be long until we encounter an attack of magical beasts again. I hope you can contribute some effort when that happens. After all, we still have a long way ahead, and we can't afford to lose too much power now."
It was very clear what Cheyenne meant. Out of the three parties, the Dark Blade was the strongest, and the Malfa Family and the Tower of Dusk had to work together to maintain a balance of power.
It might not be a good thing to the Tower of Dusk. However, Lin Li was not too concerned. He smiled nonchalantly, and said to Cheyenne, "Master Cheyenne, rest assured. Haven't you heard before that the same thing won't happen thrice?"
Cheyenne was infuriated after hearing Lin Li's words. He thought, Damn it. This rascal is too shameless. He went missing for two nights, and yet he's pretending to have lost his memory. Who was the one who went missing last night when the battle was at its peak?
However, seeing how determined Lin Li was, Cheyenne could not help but waver. Although this guy is shameless, he has never made any empty promise. Could it be that he has found some clues that I didn't know of and found the reason behind the attacks? Or level-22. I'm not sure, especially since the author likes to occasionally forget LL's last breakthrough.In other words, bottleneck forever.
Chapter 608 - Elves
Lin Li touched the Dream Garden on his finger, and pressed Xiao Hua back into the ring. He thought that the baby Elemental Wyrm had already hatched, and no longer needed to absorb large amounts of magical elements. Although these magical beasts appeared to be quite silly, who didn't want to live their life in peace without the abnormal fluctuations in magical elements?
As if to prove Lin Li's words, the team didn't encounter any massive herds of magical beasts on the way anymore. Some intelligent beasts even ran away when seeing them. Before this, during the two rounds of attacks, these beasts didn't back down no matter what, just as if they had deep grudges with the team.
At night, there were many more defensive magical devices and people on patrol when the team was resting. Much to everyone's surprise, the night was extremely calm, and the people could finally loosen their nerves and have a good sleep.
The next morning, the team prepared to set off again. After a night of good rest, the team was rather energized. The rare peaceful night was very important to this adventurer team because they were going to enter the true forbidden zone of the Haiga Mountain Range today.
Here, level-18 and 19 magical beasts were common, and it was normal to meet Legendary magical beasts if one was unlucky. To worsen the situation, there seemed to be prehistoric magical beasts here according to rumors from the Ledin Kingdom.
Although the majority of the prehistoric magical beasts had been killed or exiled during the rule of the High Elves, nobody could guarantee that prehistoric magical beasts were extinct in Anril. After all, those prehistoric magical beasts that existed during the times of the Wyrms and Titans were at least level-23 or 24. If one was unlucky, even a Sanctuary-realm powerhouse could be…
The Anril now was no longer what it was like 1,300 years ago, when powerhouses were common. Most Sanctuary-realm powerhouses lived solitary lives, and appeared once in a few hundred years. Some even traveled through the cracks between space and time, searching for the fundamental secrets of the world.
Sanctuary-level magical beasts were considered the most terrifying beings in the world. If they were to meet one unfortunately, even this hundred-odd-strong team with five Legendary powerhouses would need enough luck to escape.
Upon venturing deep into the Haiga Mountain Range, Cheyenne, Borg, and even
Lin Li raised their guard. This region was rarely visited by people ever since the prehistoric times. Even the Elven Kingdom that was so near couldn't consider this land their own.
While the team slowly advanced, Lin Li used the same time to study the treasure he had while keeping up his guard. Although all three factions had this map now, only the one with Lin Li was the original. The one with the Malfa Family was just a copy that Adelo had produced. As for the Dark Blade, they had gotten the map through their spy in the Malfa Family, so it could only be considered a copy of a copy.
Over the past few days, Lin Li appeared to be very free as if he was just in the Haiga Mountain Range to hunt. However, he was actually busy examining the treasure map, and could now remember every minute detail on the map.
From his understanding of the treasure map, Lin Li knew that the Malfa Family and Dark Blade had been more than prepared to get the Immortal King's treasure. Although they had changed the route a bit according to Osric's adventure diary, the final route taken was still the correct one. According to the map that Lin Li had, they would reach the area that the Immortal King's treasure might be in within three days. It was just that nobody was sure of its exact location.
"It seems abnormally peaceful lately…" Lin Li released the Warlock's Eyes and scanned the surroundings for anything unusual. These past few days seemed too peaceful. Other than the two magical beast attacks before, the team didn't encounter any danger at all.
However, in this forbidden zone deep in the Haiga Mountain Range, calmness meant abnormality. After all, legends said that the Haiga Mountain Range was the playground of magical beasts. Powerful beasts had lived here for thousands of years. How could they let so many intruders come in just like this?
Lin Li looked where the Legendary masters were standing, and pressed Xiao Hua back into Dream Garden with a Legendary magical crystal.
Even though Lin Li had seen powerful existences like the Elemental Wyrm and Titan Spirit, he was still cautious about the Legendary prehistoric magical beasts. He had defeated the Elemental Wyrm's projected avatar because of the Magic-forbidding Domain created with the Heart-piercing Potion, while the Titan Spirit lost to the Requiem Array. However, Lin Li couldn't guarantee that he could strike at the weakness again if he were to face a Sanctuary-level prehistoric magical beast.
Lin Li felt very uneasy, and even hoped that this quiet atmosphere could be broken soon. This was because he had a feeling that the longer this peacefulness lasted, the greater the challenge the adventurers team would face.
Lin Li aside, the other Legendary masters also looked very serious. Compared to this silence, they would rather face the attacks from those magical beast herds.
This abnormal silence was finally broken that afternoon. The mages who stood at the front of the team were suddenly attacked.
In a place like the Haiga Mountain Range, it was no longer suitable to let Bandits scout for the team. The Archmages who specialized in the Levitation Spell were better at navigation then ordinary Bandits. Moreover, the mages from the Dark Blade were different from ordinary mages. Besides magic, they also learned many skills used by Bandits. Hence, they were more outstanding navigators than other mages. The mages who were attacked now were responsible for scouting and looking out for danger.
There were about a dozen mages attacked, and all of them were level-17 or 18. They could be considered excellent scouts in the Dark Blade, and even the Malfa Family had suffered under their hands. However, this time a sea of arrows flew towards them once they had entered the forest. Although none of them were killed, all had injuries.
Level-17 and 18 Archmages had exceptional defense skills. Normally, they wouldn't be harmed even if people shot at them directly. Moreover, the effects of weapons like arrows would be largely reduced by the Levitation Spell, making it even harder to penetrate the protective shield of the Archmages.
However, the situation was totally different now. The sea of arrows from the forest below had almost made the Archmages turn into porcupines. Because this group of mages were well-trained, they didn't retaliate blindly after being attacked. The ones with light injuries immediately ran back to the team to report, while the others activated their shields and protected the heavily wounded ones to retreat.
Upon hearing that the vanguard made up of Archmages was attacked by a sudden sea of arrows, the adventurers' team started getting nervous.
The team prepared for battle after bringing back the injured scouts from the forest. However, what came out from the forest wasn't any powerful magical beast, but a group of green-haired, pointy-eared elves.
The presence of the elves didn't ease the tension. Every elf was equipped with either a set of bow and arrows or a magic staff, making the situation tenser than before.
Although humans had accepted the existence of the Elven Kingdom, and the kingdom had frequent interactions with the human nations, the deep grudges between the two races weren't easily resolved by a mere 1000-plus years. The elves saw humans as their foes, while humans saw elves as outsiders. If it wasn't the Haiga Mountain Range, there might still be rules to restrain the two races to prevent war. However, here in the Haiga Mountain Range, which didn't belong to any party or influence, there was no restraint at all.
Just as the Legendary masters from the adventurers team had come to the front of the team and the two parties were on the verge of battling, Borg from the Dark Blade suddenly laughed.
Borg didn't say anything to others, and flew towards the group of elves, not seeming to be surprised by their presence at all.
The place was quiet. Only faint sounds of conversation between Borg and the elves could be heard. Borg talked to one of the elves in a fluent elven language. Though it couldn't be considered a happy conversation, they didn't seem to be at odds. Following their conversation, a few other elves walked out from the forest.
Lin Li's pupils contracted when he saw the elves that walked out later. These elves weren't typical elves. Judging from the power waves from their bodies, they had definitely reached the Legendary-realm. One of them was even stronger than Vidas, whom Lin Li had encountered earlier. He probably had the power of level-23 already.
Like the High Elves, the elves enjoyed longevity that made humans jealous. After the mixing of races during the Dark Age, the elves possessed part of the blood of the High Elves. Thus, their talent in magic was much higher than humans'. Though it was difficult to judge who was right or wrong during the war at the end of the Dark Age, the elves would have succeeded the High Elves as the rulers of Anril if they hadn't been purged.
Chapter 609 - Great Disparity
Hence, Lin Li was even more cautious after seeing so many elven Legendary powerhouses. However, he wasn't surprised to see them. After all, although the Haiga Mountain Range restrained the nature magic of the elves, it wasn't difficult to have a few non-nature magic Legendary powerhouses here.
Back at the auction of the Time Consignment Store in Roland City, the branch-like piece of debris of the stars—Rebirth—was speculated to have belonged to the Legendary elven mage who specialized in fire magic. People saw this elven mage as an outlier among the elves. However, who would know if he was really an outlier in the Elven Kingdom?
Why did these elves appear here? Were they here for the ruins of the Titans too? Lin Li couldn't help but question it. He turned to Cheyenne, but saw Cheyenne look back at him with inconcealable bitterness.
Evidently, those elves were related to the Dark Blade judging from how Borg was behaving. If those elves were the Dark Blade's ally, the Tower of Dusk and Malfa Family would be put in a disadvantageous position. The Dark Blade was already very strong themselves. They had three Legendary powerhouses and a greater number of elite fighters here than the Malfa Family. If these elves were to join in, with those legendary-level elves… Cheyenne's heart sank to the lowest point.
It could be said that the Malfa Family wouldn't escape being massacred even if they collaborated with the Tower of Dusk if those several
elven Legendary powerhouse were to attack. Moreover, the young president of the Tower of Dusk didn't seem to be trustworthy judging from his actions these days. He would probably be the first to escape if they were to start a battle.
Borg conversed with those elves for a while before flying back to his team. He then came towards Cheyenne and Lin Li. He just told them that the elves had agreed to let the team into the forest.
Cheyenne knew that he could only continue given that they had come thus far. After all, it was impossible to back out now. If he revealed even the tiniest hint of his intention to retreat, the Dark Blade would definitely attack the Malfa Family. However, Cheyenne could see that those elves didn't seem to be close to Borg. Judging from the elves' personalities, most likely they had struck some deal with the Dark Blade, and were only using them for the sake of their interests.
"Master Felic, what do you think…" Cheyenne turned to ask Lin Li about his opinion and—more importantly—to confirm his attitude. After all, Cheyenne didn't want the alliance with the Tower of Dusk to be affected by the appearance of the elves. Within the three factions, only the Tower of Dusk didn't have any past grudges with the Dark Blade. Thus, it was the only faction that could back out now without the Dark Blade having other thoughts.
"Master Cheyenne, you can decide," said Lin Li in an unconcerned tone. The elves had inherited the High Elves' arrogance while they had inherited part of their blood. They might have some connections with the Dark Blade, but they would never put the Dark Blade on equal level as themselves. Thus, it was too early to say they were the Dark Blade's ally at the moment.
Under the lead of those elves, the adventurer team consisting of three factions entered the forest cautiously. Even those from the Dark Blade didn't dare to relax after seeing their leader converse with the elves.
